City mayor pledges no further development on south Liverpool green space

Hundreds of people took to Woolton Woods parkland to spell out the message Not here! against plans to relocate St Julie's Catholic High School - Liverpool city council says the plan for the new school would use 5% of the land, marked by the green line

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City Mayor Joe Anderson pledged there would be no further development on a south Liverpool green space as he defended controversial plans to use 5% of the land to build a new school.

Liverpool council is looking to develop a new St Julie’s Catholic High School on its existing site in Woolton, but the proposals would mean using a small strip of Woolton Woods, which campaigners have been fighting to protect.

Tempers flared as Mayor Anderson faced questions on the plans at a public meeting attended by over 200 people – where he insisted the plan was the best possible option for the school and a “compromise” for the benefit of education in the city.

He pledged to look at whether part of woodland behind St Julie’s, owned by the Archdiocese of Liverpool, could be opened to the public in return for the loss of part of Woolton Woods.

The Mayor said: “The school will not be extended or built on further, that’s what we have said. That will remain as a green space. I can give you that guarantee – I’ll put it in writing. I’ll say that there will be no more built on that part of it.

“Whether people trust that or not, that’s what I’m saying and I will hold that dear. If I make that commitment, I’ll stick to it.”

The Mayor said the decision to use 5% of Woolton Woods was down to the designers advising the council on the new St Julie’s and said it was because there was limited space available on the small site.

Corin Willis, assistant headteacher at St Julie’s, urged residents at the meeting to remember that the school was an integral part of their community.

He said: “People keep saying we should move down to Speke to the Parklands site, but we are as integral a part of the community as the green space. I do defy anyone to look at new-build schools around the city and say that would not give the students better opportunities. To give the kids the best chance, they need to be in the best possible building.”

Campaigners argue the land was bequeathed to the city for recreational purposes by Colonel James P Reynolds in 1921, but the council says there is no enforceable restrictive convenant preventing a small proportion of the land being used to extend the school site.

Actor, broadcaster and environmentalist Simon O’Brien, who is part of the Save Woolton Woods campaign group, said he was sceptical about the Mayor’s guarantee that no further part of the woods would be built on.

He said: “Mayor Anderson said that once this plan went ahead, no more would be built on and he also guaranteed that if they took the 5%, they could get at least 5% of the woodland from the Archdiocese. At this point, I’m struggling to see how any guarantee would hold if a covenant on the land being a gift carries no weight.”